Some GO Transit riders were left scrambling last weekend after rail service between Oakville GO and Mimico GO was suspended and replacement shuttle busses bypassed some stations completely.
Trains were taken out of service to accommodate track work with shuttle busses operating only from Oakville and Clarkson GO stations directly to Union Station. No GO service was available at Port Credit or Long Branch stations leaving commuters to rely on local transit or find other options. Similar service disruptions are scheduled again this weekend.
For Oakville resident and regular GO Train commuter Alessia Savaglia, this service disruption quickly turned her day into a confusing one.
“We pass my stop and we’re still on the highway and the next exit to get off the highway is to Port Credit,” Savaglia said. “And then on the driver’s radio, I hear someone say ‘Oh, just want to double check that everyone on your bus knows that this bus is not stopping at Clarkson.'”
Savaglia said she only realized that something was wrong after the shuttle had already bypassed her stop.
“The driver said, ‘Oh, nobody told you that this bus got turned automatically into an express to Union,” she said.
What should have been a short trip instead added significant time to her commute.
“I would have been on the GO Bus from Oakville to Clarkson for maybe 15 minutes and I ended up being on the bus for 45 minutes,” she said. “So it took an extra hour, hour and a half, maybe.”
Savaglia said the direct shuttle bus only made her commute more difficult.
“No, it made it harder,” she said.
According to Metrolinx, the service interruptions were in effect from Saturday until end of service schedule Sunday with special trains running only once per hour from Mimico to Union Station. Shuttle busses ran express from Oakville and Clarkson to Union Station’s Go Bus terminal.
However, no replacement service was being offered at Port Credit or Long Branch stations. Riders who are travelling between these stations are being encouraged to take local transit options like MiWay and the TTC.
Savaglia said the communication about the changes was unclear.
“When we were driving the bus still said next stop Clarkson and still no one told me anything,” she said. “They were more concerned about people putting their bags underneath the bus rather than telling people where they’re going.”
She said commuters at smaller stations are being overlooked.
“I feel like they just didn’t care and they just wanted to board everyone on the bus because it was so busy,” Savaglia said.
Savaglia said clearer communication could have prevented the situation.
“The bus driver should have confirmed before he left just in case nobody on the platform said anything,” she said.
She added this was not the first time she has experienced an issue of this nature.
“This isn’t the first time I wasn’t told a GO Bus was going to Union,” she said.
GO Transit said that riders can transfer for free between GO and most local transit agencies through the provinces One Fare program and encouraged customers to user its website and alert system to plan their trip and get real time updates.
In an emailed response, Metrolinx, the provincial agency that manages GO Transit, emphasized that these track closures are required to make “essential improvements” to bring faster and more frequent trips for commuters in the future.
The agency did not directly answer questions about why shuttle busses did not stop at intermediate stations, whether multi-stop or station-to-station shuttle options were considered or how they made decisions on which stations got replacement service.
Metrolinx also did not respond to questions about how many shuttle busses were deployed during this service disruption and if they have received complaints from commuters about the lack of service at key stations.
GO Transit said regular service is scheduled to resume Monday though additional service adjustments are expected in the future. For riders like Savaglia, the frustration is how GO Transit is handling service disruptions.
